Test your knowledge of municipal practices and procedures with the questions and answers below.


How are closed session Minutes taken, approved and reviewed?

ANSWER:

Taking Minutes
The Open Meetings Act requires that Minutes be kept of all meetings of the principal body and its committees whether the meetings are open or permitted by statute to be closed. Section 2 of the Open Meetings Act, which is found at 5 ILCS 120, sets out 23 subjects which may be discussed in closed session. These discussions could also be had in open session, but, because of their nature, such as the discipline of employees, collective bargaining, the acquisition or sale of land, and litigation, they are often best discussed in a closed session environment. Closed session meetings must be authorized during an open session meeting, and the vote to go into closed session must be by roll call with the citation made to the specific exception which authorizes the closing of the meeting. For municipalities, the Clerk is entitled to attend all meetings of the Council whether open or closed, and is expected to take Minutes. In the absence of the Clerk, or in other governmental bodies, some other person can be assigned the task of taking Minutes. The Minutes are required to include, but need not be limited to:

(i) the date, time and place of the meetings;

(ii) the Members of the public body recorded as either present or absent; and

(iii) a summary of discussion on all matters proposed, deliberated or decided, and a record of any votes taken.

Some governmental bodies like to have Minutes which set out much of the content of the closed or open session. Other governments choose to utilize Minutes which merely summarize the matters discussed. Either variant is acceptable so long as the minimum requirements of the statute are complied with.

Approving Minutes
One of the 23 items which the Open Meetings Act authorizes to be dealt with in a closed session is the "Discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully closed under this Act, whether for purpose of approval by the body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the minutes...." It makes good sense to only discuss closed session Minutes in a closed session. Otherwise, any disagreement over the contents of the Minutes, discussed in open session, would reveal the general contents of those Minutes at a time before their final release. There is a question as to whether Minutes of closed sessions must be approved in open session. The 21st exclusion to the Open Meetings Act states that the Minutes can be discussed in closed session "for purposes of approval by the body." However, Subsection (e) of this same Section 2 of the Act, states that "No final action may be taken at a closed meeting."

It is clear that a governmental body can fully discuss and come to a consensus on the content of closed session Minutes in a closed session. What is not entirely clear is once the closed session Minutes have been discussed in a closed session meeting, whether they can be approved at that time, or whether there must be a formal vote to approve them in an open session? We believe that a vote and final action approving the closed session Minutes may be taken in closed session. Any other interpretation of the Act could result in a discussion of the unapproved Minutes in an open forum which carries a serious risk of disclosing information about the contents of the closed session meeting prematurely. However, there would be nothing improper about confirming the approval of closed session Minutes in an open session if that can be done without any further discussion of the contents of the Minutes.

Releasing Minutes
Every governmental body authorized to hold closed meetings must review the Minutes of those meetings periodically, but no less than semi-annually, and the review may take place in closed session to determine whether there is still a need for confidentiality as to all or part of those Minutes. If there is no need for such confidentiality, then it must be reported in an open session that the Minutes or portions thereof no longer require confidential treatment and are available for public inspection. This is usually done by a motion or resolution, which specifically lists the Minutes that are being released. In some governments, the resolution also lists the Minutes which are still being retained.

To date, we have little precedential authority as to whether governments have reasonably exercised their rights to continue to hold Minutes confidential for an extended period of time. Governments must remember that the general policy stated in the first section of the Open Meetings Act, is that it is the intention of the Act to protect the citizens' right to know and that exceptions to the Open Meetings Act requirements are to be strictly construed against closed meetings. On the other hand, a government should be able to keep confidential the contents of closed meeting minutes which, if released, would clearly endanger the public interest, invade personal privacy, or the guaranteed rights of individuals.